After over 35 years of active adult service to the Massapequa Association of Girl Scouts, Sheila Bohan, chair of Association Volunteers recently retired.

The community surprised Bohan with a retirement dinner in her honor held at Katie Daly's in June. There, Bohan was lauded by the two generations of girls and women she had served. "I've been very fortunate to have seen the girls grow up and come back," she said. "They had wonderful experiences and memories as Girl Scouts and they want their daughters to have the same."

Bohan, who served as coordinator of volunteers for over 20 years, had her work cut out for her. With over 300 volunteers in the Massapequa community, and more than 1,200 girls involved, her position was often a challenging one. Bohan said she was confident, however, that Peggy Caltabiano and Donna Cowell, the new co-chairs, would be successful in filling the position. "It was time to back off and let some new young blood come in," she said.

Although Bohan will be retiring on the local level, she will still continue her work with the Nassau Council of Girl Scouts, where she was recently elected to the Council Nominating Committee, and where she volunteers to train new leaders on the Council level. She will also continue to be involved with the Legislative Network in Albany, meeting several times a year with government officials to discuss issues that pertain to Scouting.

She said she would also consider becoming a Scout leader once again when her youngest granddaughter was old enough to be a Brownie.

Bohan began her career in Girl Scouting in 1964 as a Brownie leader for her eldest daughter. She continued through Girl Scouts as a leader on Junior, Cadette, and the Senior levels. She served as a member of the Massapequa Service Team since 1967 in almost all positions, including Consultant, Organizer, Troop Service Chairperson, and Chair of Association Volunteers. For the past 21 years she was involved in the organization even though she didn't have a daughter or granddaughter in the program.

In her 37 years of involvement with the organization, Bohan has seen many changes, some large, some small. "The uniforms have changed several times over," she said, "both for the girls and the leaders. We do service girls on the Daisy level (kindergarten), which we didn't do when my daughter first started. There was no such thing as Brownies (first grade) either."

More importantly, Bohan said that the program has changed significantly to keep up with changing times. Years ago, girls weren't encouraged in math, science and athletics. Today, girls can earn badges in all of these subjects.

"We are dealing with a whole new generation of young ladies," Bohan said. "The world is their oyster. So many doors have been opened for them that weren't open years ago, and Girl Scouts reflects that."

The girls she sees today are much more educated than they were 35 years ago, Bohan said, and so are the leaders. The emphasis on education is echoed in the Girl Scout program. Women who go back to college to finish their education are able to earn life-learning experience credits for volunteering with Girl Scouts. Five colleges on Long Island are currently offering scholarships for young women who earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest accolade for girls in Scouting.

Although there are many things Bohan said she would miss due to her retirement, her friends aren't one of them. "I can't say I'm leaving friends because many of them are my friends for life, and I will continue to see them all."

Bohan also credited her family for their encouragement. Each of her four children, two boys and two girls, were involved in Scouting, and three of her grandchildren are currently involved in the program. "I guess you could say we are a Scouting family," she said.